


insights of the heart

by mxblur



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Biting, Breeding Kink, Extremely Dubious Consent, Handcuffs, M/M, Manipulation, Mild Blood, Nonbinary Cloud Strife, Other, Overstimulation, Trans Character, Trans Cloud Strife, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, i am trans and wanted to write trans porn, just a little bit, my reasoning for this:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:48:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26114446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxblur/pseuds/mxblur
Summary: Sephiroth loves the way Cloud falls apart beneath him.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Comments: 14
Kudos: 137





	insights of the heart

**Author's Note:**

> sorry the exposition is so long i don’t do it on purpose
> 
> // full disclosure: cloud is afab nonbinary in this fic and has had top surgery but no bottom surgery, so i will be using the terms clit, cunt and ovaries, but not breasts. there is a brief mention of top surgery scars. it’s unspecified whether they’re on T or not so that’s up to you how you want to read it. they’re masc-aligned (?? is that the proper term? i think i’ve seen some discourse over that but idk how else to refer to it) and sephiroth sees them as such and also calls them good/pretty boy a couple of times. sephiroth may be evil and awful but he’s not transphobic
> 
> and so if any of this makes you uncomfortable please don’t read !! ik all trans people have different things that trigger them so i wanted to try to cover everything i’ll be using / describing here just in case. if you come across anything i haven’t mentioned that you think i should warn for please let me know !!

Cloud feels like they’re floating. It feels like it does in their dreams, where they’re filled with enough buoyancy to go flying around the hills like they were on the moon. But everything around them is dark, and Cloud has a feeling this isn’t a dream.

They’re surrounded by something. Completely encased by it, and they can feel it sticking to every corner of their skin. They don’t know what it is, but, oh, opening their eyes to find out is so hard right now. They almost want to just let go and pretend they are in a dream, but the curiosity in the back of their mind grows too strong and so they squeeze their eyes open in a slow blink.

Two more blinks pass and Cloud registers that everything is tinted by a green-blue haze. They try to focus on bringing their arm up, to swipe it away, clear up their vision, but they hit something hard and invisible less than a foot away from them. The pain, while not much, yet certainly unexpected, lances through their mind and brings them more firmly into the present. They realize what the haze is now--liquid mako, that too-familiar turquoise, surrounding them, suspending them in what must be a glass tube.

Cloud gasps in a breath of surprise and horror mixed into one--and they _still_ don’t know how they’re able to breathe in these but that’s of little importance right now--how are they back here? Is Hojo going to step around the corner? Is Zack in a tank next to them, identical except for the letter “A” instead of Cloud’s “B”?

Cloud twists and turns, trying to get some force behind their movements hindered by the viscousness of the mako, and, in their panic, they fail to notice a pair of matching mako-green eyes watching them until they stop directly in front of Cloud’s tank.

When Cloud catches sight of Sephiroth mid-turn, all their movement stills immediately. The mako swirls around them as viciously as the sudden fear inside them does, and for a few moments, the beating of their heart is the only thing Cloud can hear.

“Hello, Cloud,” Sephiroth says. "I'm glad to see you're awake."

Cloud hates the easy familiarity that comes with that voice. It's only slightly muted by the glass and mako and Cloud wishes they couldn’t hear him at all.

“What do you want?” Cloud asks, trying to fake an aggressive tone, but there’s a waver in it that they know Sephiroth can hear.

“Not even going to greet me? How disappointing.”

Cloud doesn’t respond but Sephiroth doesn’t seem to care. He moves to a console by the tank and presses something out of Cloud’s line of sight, and with a rumble of machinery, the mako begins draining out of Cloud’s tank.

Fear begins rising in Cloud’s belly, and with the protection of the mako sliding away, they realize they don’t have on any clothing. Sephiroth is adorned in his usual gear of fifty different layers while Cloud is completely stripped down, baring everything to the man in front of them.

Cloud sinks to the ground as the rest of the mako slides away and balls themself into a corner of the tank as Sephiroth approaches, unlocking a hidden door and swinging the front of the tank open.

“Come, Cloud,” Sephiroth says. “You are in desperate need of a shower.”

Cloud refuses to move, ignoring Sephiroth as much as the spots of remaining mako dripping down their skin. Sephiroth sighs.

“Do you really want to start testing my patience so early? You will have privacy in the shower.”

Cloud waits a moment more, and when they fail to find any other options with Sephiroth blocking the only way out of the tank, they stand up. Warmth works its way up their cheeks as they keep their eyes to the ground. They don’t want to know where Sephiroth’s gaze is falling.

Cloud steps out of the tank and is immediately whisked off the ground. They find themself bridal style in Sephiroth arms, pinned to his chest, and they struggle by instinct.

“Wh--hey!” Cloud’s voice cracks from disuse. _How long were they in the tank_? “What are you doing?!”

“I thought that obvious.” Sephiroth’s voice is tinged with amusement and Cloud wishes they had the range of motion to sucker punch him in the face. “I can’t have you running amok here. You don’t know the halls here.”

Not knowing how to respond, Cloud looks up at Sephiroth instead and instantly regrets it. Sephiroth is gazing down at them with those green cat eyes, something Cloud had been so used to looking down on them from the posters in their old bedroom. It’s almost easy to get sucked back into their blameless idolization for the man, so close to his face Cloud could kiss him, but their current predicament stops them and they look away as too many emotions to process cloud their mind. They don’t speak again.

Sephiroth allows them their peace until he sets Cloud down in a bathroom. It’s small, but the shower is spacious and Cloud finds themself looking forward to rinsing off the mako drying on their skin.

“Take as long as you like. You should find adequate cleansing supplies in there. I will be outside the door should you need anything.”

Something like a smile graces Sephiroth’s lips, but he turns and exits the room before Cloud has the chance to trust it. The door clicks shut behind him and Cloud’s fury comes rushing back the minute Sephiroth is out of sight.

They don’t know what’s going on. They don’t know how long they’ve been here, what day it is, or what Sephiroth has planned. They know they can’t believe in the gentleness of his words, they know nothing good is in store for them, but...some younger part of Cloud sealed away in their soul still blushes when Sephiroth looks at them, and Cloud has a feeling that’s going to get them into more trouble than they want.

There wasn’t anything they could do besides take a shower. They step in and turn the water on, relishing in the feeling of the dried mako melting away.

Inside the shower was soap as well as a few hair products. Cloud takes their time, running their fingers through their hair with conditioner and scrubbing their body clean and pretending Sephiroth wasn’t outside the door waiting for them.

After turning the water off, Cloud steps onto the mat on the floor and is relieved to find a towel hanging on the wall. It’s pink and soft, and Cloud eagerly wraps it around themself.

They dab themself dry as best they can, and then, taking a deep breath, open the door to find Sephiroth leaning against the wall opposite them. Their stomach flips and they call it fear.

“I hope you’re feeling better now. Walk with me?”

Cloud swallows their pride and falls in step next to Sephiroth as he strides purposefully down the halls. It still shakes them how tall Sephiroth is, how Cloud barely reaches his chest. They take a breath and train their eyes on the floor instead.

They end up in another room and Cloud has already stopped trying to get their bearings in the maze of hallways here. Wherever here is.

This room hosts something that looks like a working kitchen, and the domesticity of it surprises Cloud. There are bowls in the sink and food on the table. Cloud can’t help but notice the absence of knives anywhere in the kitchen.

Their stomach makes a noise and they forget the knives for a moment, realizing how hungry they are for the first time.

“Sit down. I’m sure you’d like to eat.”

Sephiroth sits first and raises his eyebrows at Cloud, who takes it as an inarguable invitation.

“Is it poisoned?” Cloud can’t help but ask.

“Would I let you clean yourself just to poison you?”

Cloud doesn’t have a response, and instead takes a piece of toast from one the plates after they sit. It’s strawberry jelly. They like strawberry.

“No, don’t worry Cloud, I have much greater plans for you than to simply kill you,” Sephiroth says, leaning forward to place his elbows on the table as he surveys Cloud over the tips of his fingers.

Cloud swallows a bite of toast and meets Sephiroth’s eyes, a pit of worry growing in their chest despite Sephiroth’s command. Sephiroth doesn’t look away and Cloud is eventually the one to break their gaze. They finish eating quietly, aware of Sephiroth’s eyes on them the whole time.

Cloud feels satisfied but not overly full when they sit back. Sephiroth is still looking at them.

“What do you want?” Cloud asks quietly, despite the refusal of an answer they received earlier. They almost think Sephiroth isn’t going to answer them this time, either, when Sephiroth crosses his arms and leans back into the chair. He still manages to look intimidating.

“I want you,” he says simply, and Cloud’s heart stutters.

“What do you mean?”

“What I said. I want you. I want every piece and part of you and I want it to be mine. You will belong to me and I will take you as such.”

Cloud grips the towel around them tighter, having some inkling of the meaning behind Sephiroth’s words but not wanting to fully believe them.

“I--you can’t--” Cloud stops to swallow, tongue feeling heavy in their mouth. “You can’t just take me away. I have a _life_ outside, I have--”

Cloud closes their mouth when Sephiroth raises an eyebrow.

“But if you belong to me, then I dictate where I can and cannot take you, correct?”

“I _don’t_ belong to you!”

Sephiroth stands at Cloud’s outburst and they instantly regret it. Sephiroth steps around the table and Cloud feels frozen in place. He runs his fingers through Cloud’s freshly washed hair and Cloud bites back a gasp when those fingers tighten into a cruel grip and yank their head back, baring their neck.

“I think,” Sephiroth says, voice cool and calm like always, “that you will find differently, in time.”

Cloud squeezes their eyes shut to stop the tears they can feel burning there. They feel Sephiroth’s breath on their cheek as he moves to speak into their ear.

“What happens when I breed you? Claim you as mine and give you a child as a permanent mark of my stake on you? You’d belong to me then, body and mind, and there would be nothing you could do to say otherwise.”

Cloud’s eyes shoot open at Sephiroth’s words. Of course he knew, he would have known the minute he’d stripped Cloud down to put them in the tank in the first place, but it was different hearing it come out of his mouth.

“Please don’t,” Cloud whimpers. “You can’t, please--”

Sephiroth silences them with a tug to their hair.

“I can,” is all he says, and he releases his hold on Cloud and steps back.

Cloud’s instincts kick in the second Sephiroth lets them go and they’re up in an instant, racing towards the entrance of the kitchen without so much as a glance back. They make it into the hall and pause only for a moment, already having forgotten the direction they took to get here, but that moment is enough. Cloud feels a cool hand wrap around the back of their neck and something tugs their towel at the same time. Cloud relinquishes their hold on the towel to grasp at the hand on their neck and it falls away from them.

Cloud barely gets a struggle in before an arm wraps around their chest and effortlessly plucks them from the ground, and they find themself again wrapped in Sephiroth’s embrace as he carries Cloud down the hall.

Cloud lets out a shout and tries to twist in Sephiroth’s grasp, but the way he has Cloud pinned against his chest this time renders movement nearly impossible, and when their struggles fail to even provoke a glance downward, Cloud falls still in Sephiroth’s arms in defeat and exhaustion. They must have been in the tank for longer than they thought to make them this weak.

“Good boy,” Sephiroth says, and Cloud hates the rough edge in his voice.

When Cloud spots the tank in the corner of the room they enter next their struggles resume, not willing to be put back inside. They dread the easy hypnotism of the mako.

“Don’t worry,” Sephiroth says, reading them easily. “I have different plans for you.”

Cloud stills again as the words send a trickle of fear down their spine.

They continue through the room and Sephiroth opens a door Cloud had failed to notice when they had been suspended in the mako. It looks like a bedroom, and the minute Sephiroth sets Cloud down onto the bed in the middle he’s on them. He places kisses along their neck and face and leaves Cloud gasping on the sheets, unable to protest with the full weight of Sephiroth on top of him.

“Sephiroth…” Cloud manages to get out weakly. ‘Stop it, please--”

Sephiroth pulls back after one last press of a kiss to the side of their neck, allowing Cloud a moment to breathe, but Cloud thinks it’s for his benefit rather than Cloud’s.

“Why, Cloud?” Sephiroth asks. “I’m doing this for you. I’m showing you how good it can feel to be mine.”

“I don’t _want_ to be yours!” Cloud tries to shout, but it comes out quieter than they meant.

Sephiroth only smiles.

“You will,” he says, and moves to get off the bed. Cloud immediately scoots up the bed, sitting up against the headboard and tugging their knees to their chest. They don’t dare try to run this time.

Sephiroth opens a closet at the side of the room and Cloud watches him for lack of anything else to do. When Sephiroth turns around holding rope and what looks like handcuffs, fear stutters in Cloud’s heart and they tense automatically. They don’t know where to go.

“Please don’t, you can’t--” Cloud pleads when Sephiroth kneels onto the bed in front of them. There is nowhere to go.

“What I’m doing is right for you,” Sephiroth says gently. “I know you don’t understand yet and I don’t want you to hurt yourself. This is for your own benefit.”

Cloud’s hands are shaking when Sephiroth takes them into his own and places the handcuffs around them, binding Cloud’s hands together at the wrists. Cloud can’t find it in themself to move.

The cuffs shut and Cloud closes their eyes at the click. They can feel Sephiroth looping the rope around the cuffs and then their hands are pulled up and secured to the headboard. Cloud can still move their legs, but there’s nothing they can do to loose their arms.

Sephiroth caresses Cloud’s cheek with a gloved hand and Cloud opens their eyes to send a vicious glare his way. It only makes Sephiroth smile and Cloud feels weak.

“So pretty for me,” Sephiroth says, and then his eyes drop down to Cloud’s chest where they realize their scars are.

Sephiroth runs his fingers over them almost reverently and Cloud inhales a stuttered breath.

“Don’t,” they say weakly, and even they don’t believe it.

Sephiroth lets his thumbs trail over the edges stretching out to the sides of Cloud’s ribcage and then brings his hands downwards.

“I like this one, too,” Sephiroth says, fingers now caressing the gash left by Masamune in the center of Cloud’s abdomen. “Another mark of me you can’t get rid of.”

Cloud feels tears welling up in their eyes and they almost want Sephiroth to just fucking finish whatever he planned to do. This soft, gentle Sephiroth was too much for Cloud handle.

When Sephiroth moves his hands again but this time to slide in between Cloud’s legs, they regret their thoughts of wanting Sephiroth to move along. A gloved finger pushes between their folds, almost as if mapping out their entrance and Cloud gasps and jerks in the cuffs.

“Don’t--stop it,” they say, legs scrabbling on the bed in an attempt to get away. Sephiroth merely grabs onto one of their ankles and yanks them back down. He thrusts two fingers at once into Cloud and they let out a sound of shock at the sudden jolt of pain.

“Already wet for me?” Sephiroth asks in amusement, curling his fingers once and then withdrawing his hand, and Cloud looks with horror to see slick coating his gloves. Their stomach turns when Sephiroth licks his fingers with a dainty tongue and then pulls his gloves off. The rest of his clothes follow quickly, despite the many layers, and then he’s back on Cloud with a vengeance. He slides three fingers into Cloud this time, forcing half-moans out of Cloud’s mouth at the uncomfortable stretch while his silver hair falls around Cloud’s shoulders and he leans in for a filthy kiss.

It’s too much all at once and Cloud tries to voice that in between Sephiroth’s lips on theirs, but the stretch of their cunt and the feeling of Sephiroth’s fingers exploring them inside is too distracting to get anything but broken words out.

“I love the way you fall apart for me,” Sephiroth breathes, and Cloud shakes their head in denial but there’s nothing they can do to throw Sephiroth off. Sephiroth licks into their mouth once more and then pulls back, fingers sliding out of their cunt, before Cloud can entertain the thought of biting his tongue off.

“I’m here to make you complete,” Sephiroth says, and Cloud looks down to see Sephiroth’s hand wrapped around his dick, already hard, and Cloud’s struggles begin anew.

Sephiroth hardly pays any mind to them, the position Cloud’s in making it hard to get any leverage against the man above them. They feel exposed, vulnerable, and something sparking along their abdomen that they refuse to believe is arousal. It’s something sick and twisted that they can’t get away from no matter how hard they try.

Sephiroth brings them back to focus on the here and now when he positions himself above Cloud so the head of his cock is rubbing against their folds. Cloud’s throat closes up when they realise just how big it is. They feel hot all over and they can’t quell the breathlessness rising in their lungs when they look up and find Sephiroth staring deep into their eyes.

“You belong beneath me,” he whispers, and he pushes into them.

Cloud tugs on their restraints and broken pleas fall from their mouth at the pressure spreading their walls and opening up their cunt. Sephiroth had hardly prepared them, it was too big, Cloud had never--they’d never--

“Feel good?” Sephiroth asks, a smug hint to his voice that’s lost on Cloud. Cloud twists their head around and they can’t tell if they’re trying to nod or shake or just get away.

Nothing they do stops the steady press of Sephiroth’s cock inside them, stretching their walls and sending thrills through their body. Sephiroth is leaving their clit untouched, so it’s not pleasure driving Cloud out of their mind, but rather the _thought_ of Sephiroth pushing inside them, claiming them, and that there was nothing Cloud could do to fight it is making Cloud writhe in the sheets.

Everything is hot and full and it _hurts_ when Sephiroth’s hips finally come to rest against their own. Sephiroth pauses to place a kiss on Cloud’s forehead when Cloud looks down to see Sephiroth settled fully into their body.

“Please, you have to take it out,” Cloud whines, overwhelmed and drowning in tears but all too aware of the fact that Sephiroth didn’t have a condom on and that there was nothing separating them.

“This is how it’s meant to be, Cloud,” Sephiroth says. “You’re mine to fuck and breed, and I’ll fill you so full with my seed you won’t be able to move.”

Cloud whines desperately at his words and feels their cunt throb at the same time. They jerk instinctively when Sephiroth moves, gripping tight to the restraints around their wrists. They’re still not adjusted to the girth inside them and hating that Sephiroth is going so slow that Cloud is forced to feel every inch of it.

“You’re _mine_ ,” Sephiroth says, voice lowered to a rough whisper, and he thrusts back in and Cloud can’t do anything except lay there and let themself be impaled by Sephiroth’s cock over and over again.

They can’t stop the little sounds falling from them as Sephiroth fucks into them, and Sephiroth drinks it up. His hands rest on either side of Cloud, boxing them in, and he places tiny kisses onto their skin between thrusts. Cloud hates that the most. They can’t take the whiplash between Sephiroth’s brutality and his gentleness.

“You’re going to look so good swollen up with our child,” Sephiroth says, and Cloud _sobs_. “So beautiful and helpless for me. I’ll have you so many times over again.”

Cloud shakes their head back and forth on the pillow, too distraught over the here and now to think about being Sephiroth’s to use for that long.

“You’ll learn to like it, don’t worry. I’ll show you how good it feels to have my cock seated so deeply inside you that before long you’ll dread me being gone.”

Before Cloud can protest again, Sephiroth shifts his weight and brings a hand between their legs. His thrusts slow, but stay steady, and when a finger comes to press against their clit, all the air inside Cloud’s lungs disappears in a fiery rush.

They moan and try in vain to bite it off into something less indicative of their pleasure, but with sparks running all up their body there isn’t much they can do. They clench around Sephiroth inside them and pull an appreciative hum from his mouth.

“You’re so good for me, Cloud,” Sephiroth says, and Cloud doesn’t think they’ve felt more overwhelmed in their life. Sephiroth doesn’t let up on the pressure, rubbing insistently while his cock stays firmly lodged inside Cloud. He’s switched to merely grinding inside them now and the persistent stretch isn’t lost on Cloud.

Their mouth falls open and they can’t control the noises escaping them as their toes curl from Sephiroth’s touch.

“S--Sephiroth, please--”

“Hm? What is it you want? More?”

“No--no! Stop, please, I--it’s too much--”

The exultation on Sephiroth’s face captures Cloud’s gaze and they can’t look away.

“Oh, Cloud, you can’t lie to me. I know how good you feel.”

Cloud can’t deny his words and they can’t look away, and they find themself staring into the depths of Sephiroth’s eyes as thrills of pleasure rise up over them in a rush they can’t fight off. It builds and builds until everything blanks out and green-blue eyes are the only thing they can see and they’re coming, over Sephiroth’s cock inside them and his fingers on their cunt.

Cloud gasps in a breath as the aftershocks roll through them, blinking until the world returns to settle around them, and with it comes the hot shame of having come pinned under Sephiroth. His cock is still buried in their cunt, and when he moves overstimulation sparks through them.

“Ah--Sephiroth, no, it hurts--!”

Sephiroth has placed his hand back down by Cloud’s shoulder so he isn’t assaulting their clit anymore, but even still the stimulation is too much after having just come.

“Take pride in the fact that you’re pleasing me,” Sephiroth says. “Your pain serves me.”

Cloud screws their eyes shut as Sephiroth resumes his thrusting, clenching their jaw in effort to not let any more sounds come through. Everything feels elevated, from the stretch of their cunt to the drag of Sephiroth’s cock to the sweat on their skin, and throughout it all, Sephiroth doesn’t falter.

When Cloud hears Sephiroth’s breathing become uneven, they open their eyes in a flash and remember what their orgasm had wiped from their mind, why Sephiroth brought them here in the first place.

“No, no, no, you can’t--”

“Pretty boy,” Sephiroth says, his voice barely affected by how close to the edge he was clearly getting. “This is what you’re here for.”

Sephiroth leans down and attaches his lips to Cloud’s neck. Cloud can feel the brush of teeth, and they cry out when they puncture his skin.

Cloud writhes at the pain now spreading through them at the behest of Sephiroth’s mouth as Sephiroth only digs in harder and settles himself firmly inside Cloud. Cloud has nowhere to go, trapped by the restraints and Sephiroth’s teeth, and Sephiroth finally empties himself inside of them with a stutter of his hips.

Cloud can’t tell the difference between their skin and Sephiroth’s through the sweat and blood that binds them together, and Sephiroth drapes himself over Cloud as he stills. Cloud can feel something dripping out of their cunt and they clench instinctively, drawing a quiet hum out of Sephiroth. He places a kiss behind Cloud’s ear and pushes himself up onto his arms.

Cloud is still sensitive enough that they twitch violently as Sephiroth pulls out, the feeling of his cock dragging along their walls still too much for them to handle. But the physical separation allows Cloud a moment of clarity despite the horror washing over them, and they take advantage of Sephiroth undoing the restraints around their wrists to suck in a breath of cool air and try desperately to collect themself.

Sephiroth sits back on the bed to admire them as Cloud brings their wrists down and rubs the sensitive flesh. They briefly close their eyes and open them again just as quickly, and then they adjust into a child’s pose to kneel in front of Sephiroth as best they can.

“Please,” they say, throat sticky and tears blurring their sight, and they don’t know how they manage to get words out at all but maybe it’s just pure desperation spurring them on. “Please, you have to do something. I can’t get--” they can’t even say the word-- “I can’t bear a child. I can’t. Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll be good for you, I won’t fight anymore, you just have to help me. Please.”

Cloud has their forehead pressed to the sheets, not daring to look up. They can feel the warmth of Sephiroth’s come inside them and another wave of fear washes over them.

Sephiroth doesn’t speak or move but Cloud still doesn’t raise their head. Cloud will stay here for a thousand years if it means Sephiroth will save them from conceiving a child.

Eventually, Sephiroth speaks.

“You’ll do anything?”

Now Cloud looks up as a rush of relief overpowers them to meet those mako green eyes--maybe Sephiroth is finally, finally listening to them.

“Anything.”

Sephiroth’s expression doesn’t change as he examines Cloud, and Cloud waits.

“I hope that’s a promise you’re prepared to keep, then. You’re already sterile.”

Cloud stares into Sephiroth’s unblinking eyes and their stomach drops before they’ve even finished comprehending his words.

“Already...what do you mean?”

Cloud’s voice is barely a whisper, but Sephiroth hears them anyway.

“Before you woke up, I took the liberty to remove your ovaries myself. You never had any risk of getting pregnant.”

Cloud’s head is spinning as they place a hand over their belly. _Removed_ …?

“Why?” Cloud asks bitterly, tears pooling in their eyes again. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Cloud could care less about what Sephiroth took away. It was the only the circumstance under which they were removed and Cloud’s words that they couldn’t take back that were pushing them towards a breakdown.

Sephiroth leans forward and places a hand tenderly on Cloud’s jaw. His thumb moves to wipe a stray tear away.

“Because,” he says, “you’re so pretty when you cry.”

Cloud doesn’t move as the shock still holds them frozen in place, but when it wears off, they lift their hand to push Sephiroth’s off their face. Sephiroth’s other hand comes to grab Cloud’s wrist before they make it very far at all.

“I made true on my promise,” Sephiroth says, voice dangerously soft. “Will you?”

“I didn’t know,” Cloud breathes, tears choking their voice almost to the point of non-existence. “I didn’t know.”

Cloud can feel Sephiroth’s victorious smile against their neck when he leans forward to dot kisses along their skin, pressing an extra gentle one to the bleeding crescent moon Sephiroth had bitten into them. Cloud doesn’t try lifting a hand again to stop him.

They don’t protest when Sephiroth picks them up, either, cradling them close before laying Cloud down onto their back again. He briefly steps off the bed to retrieve something from the bathroom and then takes a warm washcloth to their skin. He cleans them off and joins them under the sheets shortly after, but Cloud can hardly process the motions he’s going through right now.

 _Tomorrow_ , Cloud thinks as Sephiroth wraps his arms around Cloud, bone-deep exhaustion starting to set in. _Tomorrow I’ll fight again._

The sensation of Sephiroth’s warmth surrounds them as something tells them they won’t ever be fighting again, but Cloud is already asleep and ignorant to any insights of the heart.


End file.
